Part 5 - Wednesday, June 25, 2008: Privacy rules mean there is more security 0

The topic of youth crime will raise the emotions of anyone who enjoys a good debate.

Getting tough on teen lawbreakers is often a line tossed around by politicians looking for a vote.

In reality, it's a topic many people just simply don't know much about. Why would they?

When it comes to the wheels of youth justice, most of the turning goes on behind closed doors.

Newspapers and television rarely cover youth justice, except for in the event of a murder or other serious crime.

Names of youths who break the law cannot be published. The youth court docket that lists who will appear in court each day and what they are charged with - which court journalists rely on - is not a public document.

The media isn't permitted to visit or even interview the staff at youth corrections facilities.

"The chances of identifying the youth are really great by entering the facility and it is their home... so unfortunately we can't provide you with access," said Anne Machowski, spokesperson for the Ministry of Children and Family Services. She was responding to a request for a tour of Cecil Facer Youth Centre in Sudbury.

"The protocol that we have here at our ministry is that I'm the only person who actually speaks to reporters, so we can't provide you with someone at Cecil Facer (for an interview)," Machowski said.

Journalists or others who believe in the public's right to information might find it unsettling that youth justice is covered by a shroud.

John Rimore, however, makes a compelling case for the importance of confidentiality.

"Part of the reason for the Youth Criminal Justice Act is to assist youth to change their behaviour, to become positive members of the community," he said.

That is difficult if they are in a community "where they will always be remembered for their delinquent act as a youth."

Rimore used the example of a story that plays out at least once a week at the John Howard Society in Sudbury.

An adult who has been a good, crime-free citizen for the last two decades is asked by their employer or an agency they volunteer for for a criminal records check, an increasingly common practice. The problem is, 20 years ago they committed a crime, say shoplifting or driving under the influence.

"Once a week we have a person here that has either been told they can no longer volunteer for an organization, because they have a charge when they were 19 years old. Or they've lost their job because they never thought of getting a pardon when they were 15," Rimore said.

"That situation explains to me more than anything else why we have the laws of confidentiality in the YCJA," he said.

"Something has to be said for decades of good, clean, sober, positive citizenship."

One 24-year-old woman who was once a young offender is also an example of the confidentiality laws helping people rehabilitate.

The Sudbury resident, who can't be named, had a string of charges as a youth growing up in poverty in Winnipeg. She spent time locked up, which helped her realize it was time to turn her life around.

She moved to Sudbury recently and has been accepted to take social work at Laurentian University in the fall.

"I'm able to use my experiences and my past to do something positive with it. but if I didn't have a sealed record, I wouldn't have that opportunity," she said.

She does, however, think in some situations a closed record should not be permitted.

"I think in different situations where there is more violence involved I don't think it's fair," she said.

A young person may commit a very violent act as a teen, but when they end up in court as an adult, that slate has been wiped clean.

"You've got somebody who, as a 14-year-old almost killed somebody, almost beat them to death and stole $20," she gave as an example. If they do a similar thing as an adult, that youth record should be considered, she said.

The sealed record, she said, also fuels the "slap on the wrist" mentality among some young criminals.

"A lot of people don't care because it's sealed once you turn 18, so you can do whatever you'd like until then," she said.

Before we rush to have the names of young offenders raked through the coals, however, we must remember what it's like to be a teenager. We would all most likely be hard pressed to think of anyone who didn't do at least something illegal growing up.